1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to an internal airbag device which is mounted in an interior of a vehicle and, more particularly, to an internal air bag device in which an airbag deploys in a vehicle collision between a front seat and a rear seat to prevent a secondary collision of a rear seat occupant with a front seat occupant and with the front seat or frontal objects.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, vehicles are equipped with a variety of safety devices for protecting a driver and passengers from sudden accidents. Representative safety devices are airbag devices that directly protect a driver and a front seat occupant.
Such airbag devices are internal airbag devices that inflate in the interior of a vehicle to protect a driver and a front seat passenger. The airbag devices, however, collectively protect front seat occupants among all passengers. This is because of a belief that during a vehicle collision, front seat occupants have a great risk of being damaged due to striking a steering wheel or an instrument panel, whereas rear seat occupants who are further away from a collision point than the front seat occupant are relatively safe.
However, rear seat occupants who do not wear a seatbelt may be damaged during a frontal collision of a vehicle by striking the front seat occupants or front seats. Considering that the seatbelt wearing rate of rear seat occupants is considerably lower than front seat occupants, there is a need to further develop internal airbag devices for rear seat occupants.
Then, as shown in FIG. 5, an internal airbag device has been proposed that protects rear seat occupants. However, such an internal airbag device operates such that an airbag 13, received in an airbag housing 12 mounted in a front seat 11, inflates towards the rear seat occupant's face, causing the rear seat occupant 2 to feel discomfort. Further, the direction and position of deployment of the airbag vary according to a forward or rearward motion or a reclining angle of a front seat, which is problematic. Thus, the function of adjusting the forward or rearward motion or the reclining angle of the front seat needs to be restricted. However, this is not preferred because the comfort of an occupant sitting in the front seat is also greatly restricted.
Furthermore, conventional airbags which deploy in the vehicle interior during a vehicle collision separately inflate in the side of the front seat and rear seat, respectively, so that they cannot completely protect rear seat occupants from impacts.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.